List of Piston Cup fatalities
Thankfully fatalities in the Piston Cup are much rarer these days but a total of twenty-seven racers so far are known to have died due to crashes in Piston Cup Series, including CARCA, Xfinity, Trucks and young racers at 17-20. Dale Earnhardt Sr was the most recent Piston Cup race death. Racers List # William Ismond in 1950. The first death in any of the Piston Cup series. Died after he crashed in a wall and caught fire in the Thomasville CARCA race. William is unrelated to Xfinity racer Eric Ismond. # Jim Herron in 1953. Racer Jim Herron, a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe Coupe NASCAR, was one of the original Piston Cup racers from 1950-1953. In the Revolting 200, Herron died after losing control and overshooting the track and falling. Herron sponsored Re-Volting in the 84 alongside Leroy Heming in the 300 until his death. # Harry Pitcar in 1955. Rookie Harry Pitcar was doing some practice laps in Charlotte for the Carolina's 350 when his wheel exploded and he was sent airborne before flipping 12 times before exploding into the fire. Harry died instantly while he landed on his wheels with a lot of oil below them. # Donald Williams in 1958. Donald Williams who debuted in 1954 as a 1954 Buick Roadmaster NASCAR would die in a hard hit from Leroy Heming which essentially caused massive internal injuries in the 1958 Las Vegas 400. # Robert Johnson in 1959 (died 1995). Robert had a horrific crash in the 1959 Calladega 500 where he was in a coma for a month after his horrifying wreck. Robert had recovered and somehow returned for the 1960 Nightdona to 1960 BnL 500. Robert contracted Alzheimer's caused by his injuries in 1991 and died four years later in 1995. # Chuck Taylor in 1961. Chuck died in a very horrible crash in the Southern 250. Chuck, who is a 1960 Ford, was in the last place when he started flipping and HIS ENGINE FELL OUT! Not surprisingly Chuck was dead in seconds due to his engine falling out and his terrible injuries. Chuck's engine is now in another 1960 Ford named Daniel Draglan after he needed engine replacement. # Mitch Gears in 1966. Racer Gears, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, was the first Fiber Fuel racer. He died after hitting the wall which ended up in a spectacular fireball crash in the Dinoco 400. # Bill Revelic in 1967. The CARCA racer was just 24 years old when he tragically died in a horror crash in the tragic 1967 Los Angeles 200 CARCA race (two racer fatalities happened that race). Bill was in seventh when he lost control and smashed into the inside wall before flipping beyond it. He is killed instantly because he lost many parts and he got split in two (the main body and a big piece from his right front side including the tire). Unfortunately, he landed near his pit where his wife Martha was and she saw her husband's dead body. # Dave Williams in 1967. The other fatality in the horrible tragic and historic infamous 1967 Los Angeles CARCA race. The 30-year-old died 9 laps after Bill Revelic. He died instantly after he hit the wall on turn three and caught on fire while landing on his roof. # Marvin Johnson in 1974. He was killed while practicing for the Nightdona 500. # Bobby Carsac in 1977. Died in a crash at Alabama Speedway in Calladega, Chick Hicks is the one who caused Bobby's fatal crash. # Seaborn Reverson in 1979. Died in a horrible crash in practice for the CARCA 200 at Nightdona. He went airborne and smashed HARD on the ground leaking oil everywhere and flipping 17 times before landing on his roof. # James Carlidge in 1979. Great-grandson of former president Calvin Carlidge he died after a crash on turn 2 in the 1979 Leak Less 400. Carlidge was t boned by Brad Gonzalez and was seriously damaged on his right side before Carlidge was hit again by rookie James Cleanair and caught fire. The King, part-timer Claude Scruggs, Alloy Wilson, Tom Landis, Ronald Oaks, and Ernie Gearson were also involved. # Alex Rodriguez in 1980. He died in a CARCA race at Nightdona after he died in a 19 car crash after being hit while upside down. # Martin Gearson in 1982. A cousin of Ernie Gearson he died after he burst into flames after being hit by Tyler Robson (Not related to James) in the CARCA 200 at Nightdona. He burnt so much and was black, brown, orange, yellow and even RED in some areas. His metal nearly melted. A paint recreation of his injuries done to another 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger shows how brutal Martin's burn injuries were. # Edward "Eddie" Hendrick in 1982. 29-year-old Edward "Eddie" or simply "Ed" Hendrick was killed while practicing for the N20 Cola 400 at Calladega Superspeedway. Hendrick was ripped into three pieces in the crash, killing him instantly. His death is considered the second-worst of all time, the worst being Tom Landis. # Andrew Jackson in 1983. Died in a CARCA race after hitting the wall and then being hit hard on the side by a racer and bursting into flames. # Leroy Carborough in 1984. Died in a practice session for the Michigan 200 after he was in a crash involving Willy Curber, James W Smith and Bengy Ford. Cale cried very hard when Leroy died. # Fu Chun Fei in 1985. Died while qualifying for the trucks race at Nightdona, due to having a scary flip on the second lap on turn 3. # Tyler Comet in 1986. He died in CARCA practicing at Road America after losing control and flipping violently in the sand and died 5 days later of massive injuries before he flew and landed on the fence. # Ronald Oaks in 1987. Died in a crash at LA. Ronald was the father of Ruby Easy Oaks. # (WARNING #1: THIS CRASH NOT FOR FAINT OR EASILY SCARED): Tom Landis in 1988. Probably the most brutal accident of them all. In the Pocono 400, racers Darrell Cartrip and James Cleanair spun out. Klint Shiftright tried to dodge but hit into Shiny Wax racer Tom Landis (who raced before Darren from 1975 to 1988 before his debut in 1989 part-time, 1997 backup, 2000 rookie.) causing him to get turned into the wall. Unfortunately, the wall shredded the top of Landis completely off causing chaos in the stands. The now-dead Landis landed back on his wheels with his mouth still open and insides visible. His remains were carried away and the race was red-flagged and stopped and was not shown on TV due to this. It was reported his nose and right door was found in the stands while most of his roof was stuck in the catch fence. # Don Chapcar in 1988. Just four races after the brutal death of Landis backup Tank Coat racer Chapcar would die after overshooting the Daniel Raceway and falling to his death and catching fire. Chapcar was 39 years old. # Lincoln Archer in 1989. He was killed while practicing for the 1989 Nightdona 200 Trucks race. He died after flipping over on fire 6 times after being touched by another racer. # Robert Axon in 1989. The first Piston Cup 17-20 fatality since its inaugural season in 1986, he died at the Pocono race after hitting the wall hard. He stayed in a coma for 3 days before dying. # Laura Whiteford in 1992. The only female racer in the sport to die the 17-20 Piston Cup racer she died in The King 300. Flipping 17 times before hitting the inside wall. # (WARNING #2: THIS CRASH ALSO NOT FOR FAINT OR EASILY SCARED) Garrett Revley in 1993. In an attempt to protect his position, Geoff Bodine went high to block, resulting in door-to-door contact with Revley (who replaced James W. Smith), as well as Bodine's right front being blown. Both cars shot to the beginning of the backstretch, and Revley slammed the outside wall roof-first with so much force his roof was torn off, killing him instantly, though a few parts still functioned for over 15 minutes after his death. # Greg Locke in 1994. Dad of Lane. Greg Locke would die after hitting the wall, flying in the air and landing on one of the mobile homes. The mobile home survived with minimal damage. # Chad Revler (Not related to Rex) in 1996. The last Xfinity fatality since its debut in 1946. Chad Revler died in Nightdona due to a crash involved 5 cars (he, Dale Carrett (his father Ned was a 1960's CARCA racer), Bobby Carbonte (Terry was a 1980's CARCA racer), Ed Johnson and Mark Cartin). Chad would hit the wall, flip twice before landing in the grass on his wheels, Chad was badly damaged in the accident and he died two days later. # Sam Byron in 2000. Died in a crash in CARCA at Nightdona. # Adam Weathers in 2000. He died after hitting the wall and flipping, a spark ignited his leaking fuel tank, causing him to erupt in flames, killing him instantly. # Dale Earnhardt Sr in 2001. See the 2001 Nightdona 500 for more info. # James Thompson in 2001. Died to a due heart attack in a CARCA race at Charlotte. Spectators and others list # Steve Alcott in 1957. Died after debris from River Scott penetrated his roof and pretty much destroyed his brain. # Charles Jones in 1982. Died in the 1982 Brickyard 200 after Leroy Carborough crashed into the catch fence and grandstands. Charles was killed instantly and his wife, as well as another spectator, suffered injuries. # Denny Wallace in 1992. While he did not die he suffered brain injuries after a tire hit him which shortened his lifespan and he died in 2014 at the age of 49. The death was confirmed to be directly related to the accident Trivia * Nightdona International Speedway has claimed the most lives at 6 easily more than any other speedway. Category:Lists Category:Deceased Category:Racers who died